Of Thestrals and Dragons
by snowleopard314
Summary: After the final battle, Death decides that it is time for Harry to leave and find a new life in the Elemental Countries without his previous memories. With new friends and a new source of power, it is time for Harry to grow and change the new world that he has been forced into. Of course he wont be alone. Only time will tell how much Death's decision chances this new world.
1. Chapter 1: Running Away

**A/N:** Hello! I would like to say that although I have no right in starting another story, I could care less. I have every intention of finishing all of the stories that I have started so far, I just need to get the conflicting things out of my head before I can continue on. It is usually good for me to have so many projects going on at once. So I shall keep working on all of them, but I have a few chapters of this already worked out that I need to clear out of my had.

I hope that you all like this, I know that I do. I also have good plans for it later on. Though I should mention that I am only about half way through the Anime of Naruto, so I am still getting used to the universe.

I do not own either Harry Potter or Naruto! Please enjoy the story!

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**Chapter 1: Running Away**

It was over. It had to be over. After all of the death that he had seen over the years, there was nothing more that he had left to give to the wizarding world. He had literally given it all to the final fight. He had even died in order to end the war that left them all in shambles. And now there was hardly anything left for him. He was bone tired and still he thought about what to do next. But there was nothing.

Even if he wanted to do something in this world it would be for nothing. Harry knew that there were still going to be people who would patronize him and others who wouldn't give a damn. He could already guess that the papers were probably going to write some half fabricated lie that would probably come back to bite him in the ass latter. That did seem to be the most popular thing in the Daily Prophet and what not. It would all end up as lies that would just make his life even harder, and that made Harry wish that he could just leave this world behind.

With his mind made up, he walked away from the destroyed castle where he had learned to live, and went into the Forbidden Forest; the place where he knew there would be something that would help him. He didn't know how he knew there was something in there that could help him, but he knew that it was something seeing as his instincts usually never led him astray. So he marched into the fog laden thick trees and into the dark depths of the forest that he had been in more than most of the students of Hogwarts combined.

He had been walking for maybe half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest when he found what it was that was going to help him. Walking towards him with grace that one doesn't normally associate with a skeletal winged horse was a thestral. It's skeletal frame making no noise as her wings were flat at her sides and the small amount of light that made it through the canopy of the forest gleamed softly off of the scale covered lizard like snout of the creature. The skin and bones tail swayed lightly behind her as well.

"Young master of The Hallows; I have been expecting you for quite some time." A woman's voice came from the thestral without the creature opening her mouth. The gleaming white eyes bore into him softly as if she was greeting a small child or a long lost friend. Harry was confused with how quickly he found himself comfortable with the horse like being.

"You were waiting, why?" Harry asked as he stretched out his hand to stroke her snout.

"Yes. We all knew that you would need somewhere to go after the end had come. We are creatures of death after all. So I have come to welcome you as a part of my family and take you to a new place where you can start anew. It will be a place without expectations for you where you can freely be whoever it is that you want to be." She said as she gently nuzzled him to comfort him.

Harry thought about that for a minute. He knew that things would never be the same, and as he thought along those lines he knew that it was perfectly natural for him to want a fresh start. And maybe this time he would be given an actual choice about whether or not he had to do something. And maybe this time the people would actually prepare him instead of codling him. It all sounded so much better than the prospects that he was looking at if he stayed.

"I think I would like that." He mumbled so that the thestral could just barely hear him.

"Then hop on. We have a lot of travel a head of us. I must warn you that there is a small price that will be paid for going where we are going, but I know for certain that it is nothing that is harmful." She said as she bowed low enough for Harry to climb onto her skeletal back.

"If it is a new start, then I don't mind the price." He said absently, not really knowing what he was saying, but knowing that he wanted to just fly away from this place that had once been a home to him. He wanted away from all of those bad memories.

He didn't know when the thestral started to fly, and he didn't know where they were going, but he had fallen asleep just after the winged horse had taken off and he was not waking up for the world. It was a part of the price that had to be paid as the thestral started to fly through the barriers that had stood for so long to hide the realities away from one another.

Sure enough, as Harry was peacefully sleeping, the price was taken without his knowledge. With each wing beat through the seal, Harry began to get younger. And as they were about to break through he was stripped of most of his memories, leaving behind just enough to keep up with impressions that had been formed and leaving the instincts that he had burned into his subconscious completely fine. What was left after the price was paid was an eight year old boy with no memories or name associated with him. It was truly going to be a new start for him.

And although he didn't know it yet, his abilities were also changing. His magic morphed into two separate pathways. One was just his normal magic core; however it had modified itself so that the only magic he would be able to do would be inside of his own body and not outside of it. And although he didn't know what that meant yet, it was the equivalent to his bloodline trait. And the other part molded itself into the chakra network that all the beings in this new pace had. In a last act, his magic also changed his main language to the one he would need. Now he was a part of this new world in all ways that counted. And it was not a part of the price that had to be paid, but just the changes that had to be made in order for him to survive.

No matter how far they had flown through the sky, it didn't seem like long to either of them. Time had been altered for them, and so it didn't pass the same as it did for other humans and creatures. And as they flew, the thestral promised death that in this new world she would look after the boy as if he was her own foal. And when the time came, she would teach him the things he would need that would give him a slight edge in the world they were to live in.

After finding a place where she believed to offer the best town for her newly acquired colt to grow up in, she started to spiral down. Of course she also made sure to let the shinobi on duty see her so that they would come and meet her. Inside, the thestral was almost cackling with excitement on intimidating a few new people. It had been a while since she had been given the time to have fun with other beings.

Almost at the exact same time that she landed, a group of three men clad in black with white animal masks on entered the same clearing and looked at her wearily. The ANBU operatives were not afraid; it was simply that they were unsure about what to make of the thestral. They were slightly unnerved that they didn't know what it was or what it could do.

"Greetings, shinobi of the hidden leaf." She greeted. Her voice slightly shocking them due to the fact that she didn't open her mouth to speak. Usually the summons that spoke actually used their mouths to do it. Talking without looking like she was talking as just strange to them. But what had them worried was the child that the horse like creature was carrying on her back. He didn't look to be in good condition.

"What are you doing here?" The man with the bird mask asked as he took a steady and measured step forward.

"I thought that was obvious. I am here because he needs help that I cannot give. We only just left a war zone and I feel that it would benefit him if he was raised by humans instead of creatures like me." She said with a slight scolding tone.

The last part got their attention as the one with the cat like mask asked "And what exactly are you?"

"I am a thestral. We are known as creatures of death because the only way that someone can see us is if they have seen death themselves." She answered easily as she carefully slipped the boy off of her and lowered him gently to the ground with her wing. Obviously she wanted them to help him.

"Who is this boy?" The bird ANBU asked. They were still unsure of what to think about this situation, but they were always willing to take in people looking of asylum.

"He is no one and anyone, as of right now. His memories have been taken I am afraid, and he does not know the answer to that question himself. But I think that he can be a great asset to your village. And he is in no way a spy." The answer that she gave was not expected, but the shinobi knew better than to question further when it was clear that the boy really did need medical attention. They would leave it to the others to decide if they thought he was a threat to the village or not.

The man in the cat mask was the one who took the boy. They took off towards the hospital, and ignored the looks that they were given due to the thestral. When they got to the hospital they had to explain to the winged skeletal horse that she was not allowed into the hospital because she was an animal. And although she had a problem with that, she knew that it was the way of things. A stupid way, but the way none the less.

Inside the hospital, the staff that treated the boy was horrified at the number of scares that marred his skin. They were not even the normal ones that one would expect from a pre-genin or any stage of ninja. It appeared as though someone took great pride in marring the skin of the boy. And the large puncture was right above his elbow looked as if someone took a claw from a large summon and stabbed it through the arm. Then there was the lightning bolt scar on his forehead; just looking at it made them believe that it had been made on purpose with a blunted blade sometime when he was very young. And it pissed them off.

The staff had come to the conclusion that the boy had been abused. Child abuse was the one thing in the world of shinobi that was looked down on. Sure, when it happened to a street urchin it was a little different, but for a little boy to have this many scares, it was more likely that he had been tortured for some reason. Not even the harshest of the shinobi in the village would do that to a child. They were pissed off.

It was about two hours later when the boy woke up. And he was surrounded by people. There was a man with long blond hair that was strung up in a pony tail, a man who was covered in scares, a girl with purple hair, and a man who was dressed in white robes and had on a ridiculously large white hat. And they all were very surprised when the boy opened his eyes and looked at them with eyes so green that they reminded them of the forest. None had seen eyes like those.

"Do you know where you are?" The Hokage asked as he stepped forward to see the boy better.

The boy with the brilliant green eyes looked at all of them in turn before he shook his head. Then his eyes landed on the scared man and he said "You remind me of someone, but I can't remember who. The memory was taken." The boy said it in such a matter of fact way that the others couldn't really understand why he had said it.

"Do you know anything more about the man that I remind you of?" Ibiki asked as he stepped forward. It was an unconscious reaction to getting information that he had gotten from his job that had him leaning forward in an intimidating fashion, but the boy didn't seem to notice.

He tilted his head to the side and his eyes unfocused for a moment as he tried to remember. Finally he shrugged and said "He is dead now."

The adults seemed to flinch back at the tone. It was as if it was someone talking about history and not about someone that they had known. But then again, if he couldn't remember the man, then it would make sense that he wouldn't say it as if it was personal. It was more like he was stating a well known fact.

"Would it be alright if I looked into your mind little one? I promise that it won't hurt you, but it will help us to know where it is that you are from." The blond man asked as he came forward and squatted by the bed so that he as level with the boy.

He thought for a moment before nodding his head. The boy knew there was nothing personal there anyway.

With a hand on the boy's head and the other forming the needed seal, he slipped into the boy's mind and took a look around. What he found verified what the ANBU told them the creature that called itself a thestral said. There were no memories in this boy's head. But there were impressions, instincts of what to do in certain situations. Also, it seemed as if his base personality was still there, even if he no longer had the experiences that formed it.

He came out of the boys head after not even a minute of being there and gave a look to the others and shook his head once to say that there was nothing to see in the boy's mind. None of the four adults noticed the snake summon that Anko had forgotten she had out. The snake was now on its way up the bed without the highly qualified ninja noticing. That spoke volumes of how focused they were on the boy.

Or at least they didn't realize it until the boy was speaking in syllables that were hissed out in a very snake like way. They all took a step back as they saw the snake making herself eye level with the boy as he hissed out the serpentine words that they didn't understand. And then the snake hissed back at him as if she was excited.

"Anko-san, why is your snake out?" The Hokage asked as he looked at here with a slightly annoyed expression.

With a nervous laugh she said "Yeah, sorry about that, I forgot she was out." The others in the room suppressed the urge to face palm.

Then the snake decided to speak. "He is our brother among men. He is a speaker! I am afraid that no snake would ever attack him unless ordered by another speaker. Our laws dictate that it is a death sentence to any who attack a speaker. And on top of that he is a slayer of a basilisk. Lord among snakes. This little one has so much potential. I don't think that there has been a speaker in the elemental nations in over a thousand years at least!"

"What's a basilisk?" Anko asked.

"It is a serpent so deadly that a single look into its eyes means death. The scare above his elbow is actually a puncture mark from where he was bitten by one. There is only one cure to the venom from the lord of snakes, and to have survived the bite means that most poisons will never work on him anymore. At least not the natural ones." The snake said excitedly.

"And what is the cure to the venom?" The Hokage asked out of curiosity. Perhaps if he knew that he would know just how poisonous the serpent really was.

"The only cure to basilisk's venom is the tears from a phoenix." The snake answered with a very smug voice.

"Shit," Anko summed up the conversation with a single awed word.

After a moment of awed silence where the boy continued to converse casually with the snake, the Hokage said "I think it might be a good idea to take this outside and ask the thestral thing that brought him here more questions. She seemed to remember a lot more that he does."

With nods they all left, leading the boy through the sterile hallways of the hospital and towards the thing that had brought him to their village. They were somewhat surprised by the level of youthful curiosity that the boy conveyed as he looked from side to side and into rooms on his way out. He was like a little puppy in a way.

And once they were outside, all four of the shinobi were on edge as they walked up to the black winged skeletal horse with milky white eyes. They would have never admitted it, but they all found the creature slightly daunting. The boy didn't though. He ran straight towards the creature and hugged one of the front legs as though it was a house hold pet or friend. To Anko it reminded her of a young child hanging off of a parent's leg.

"Hello, I am the Hokage of this village and I would like to ask you some more questions regarding the boy." The Hokage said as he looked into the eyes of the thestral.

"I think it would serve both of us better if I simply tell you what I can about him. It would take less time and you could ask more questions when I am done." She gave him a reasonable counter argument.

With a nod of approval she started. "Fist I would like to tell you that I am Suzu, a thestral. We are known as creatures of death because the only way for you to see us is if you have seen someone die in front of you. A depressing way to gain the sight, but it does change someone to see death rather than to hear about it." She started off.

The adults then looked to the boy, all four knowing now that he had seen someone die in front of him, and they were all a little concerned over the implications. Luckily they didn't have to ask because Suzu caught on to what they were thinking and answered their question before they could ask it.

"This young one has not led an easy life. He has been forced to watch again and again as those he came to care about were killed in front of him. One by one he lost them all. It all started when he was just over a year old. Your snake has told you that he is a speaker. Well there was another who could speak the language of the snakes, and he was threatened by the boy. He went in to kill him at the time and ended up murdering his parents before he turned his power onto the boy. The scar on his head is from that night. Somehow his mother was able to put up a protecting ward that sent the power back onto the attacker.

After that, he was forced into a war he really had no part in. The old geezer had decided to keep him alive only so long as to die when the time was right. He was forced into battles before he was ready and without proper training. But somehow he managed to win. He defeated the dark speaker at the cost of those closest to him. I took him after that. I would not leave him in a place that would rather scorn him than look at him as the hero he was. We are not from this world; there are thick barriers that separate this world from the one that we are from. There is always a price that must be paid to get through the wards. I am almost grateful that it was his memories that it took." The thestral finished.

All four of the shinobi didn't like the story at all. But it looked to be true enough from what the healers had seen of his body. They were slightly outraged that someone would use a child like that. Of course they did not know that the boy had been in his late teens when the final battle happened.

"What is his name?" Ibiki asked.

"I think it would be better for him to have a new one. This is a new start for the young one, and I don't think he would have wanted to keep it anyway."Suzu answered.

"Well he needs a name," Inoichi said as he scratched his head.

"If it helps, his original name did start with an H if you want to narrow down the search for a name." Suzu cut in

"I'm gunna call him Hiroto!" Anko announced after a very long pause where everyone was thinking of names.

"Well, I think I can safely welcome Hiroto-kun into the village, the only question now is where to put him." The Hokage said in his gruff voice as he looked at the child with calculating eyes right after he accepted the new name.

"I think the T&I department should look after the gaki. I mean, he had met the three of us here; he is fine with Ibiki, likes my snakes, didn't mind Inoichi going through his mind, and he needs to get acclimated to life here in Konoha. What better way than to be with a department. And it also helps that Suzu here looks nice and creepy. She would totally fit in!" Anko suggested in complete sincerity.

The other two looked at Ibiki who just shrugged before saying "Anko, why can't you just say that you want a little brother to spoil but don't want to take care of him the entire time?" He asked his subordinate.

"Fine, but it is still a good idea. It might even be good for the others in our department. Kids can relieve stress and what not." She continued with a shrug.

Suzu giggled slightly before saying "It might also be good for you to know that I will have to take him every once in a while away from the village to help train him in his bloodline. I also think it will surprise you to know that he will have an ability to see into someone's mind once he is given proper training. But that is only one of the things that he will be able to do. There is also a summons scroll that I will be giving him in the event that he is to become a shinobi of this village."

The talk of a bloodline that was not just the gift that the little gaki had in talking to snakes spiked all of their interests, but at the same time they knew that fishing for information wasn't the wisest thing to do. They decided that they would learn more about him as they went.

"I think that will work. I mean, if you two need help I have a daughter that is about a year younger than this little one so I'm sure I can help from time to time." Inoichi said with a smile. The message behind that simple statement was that he was happy to help but he had his own daughter to think about and would not be able to take the kid in that much.

Suzu decided to interject right about then and said "If it helps, Hiroto-kun is a fairly talented cook. Just give him written instructions with the foods he needs and he is good to go."

"I'll take him!" Anko declared as she smiled widely and scooped the kid up from where he was currently fighting sleep at the thestral's feet.

The three men all laughed good naturedly as they wondered how much dango she was going to try and make with the kid. Ibiki decided that it would be smart for him to accompany them tonight to make sure that the kid was going to be alright in the warzone known as Anko's apartment seeing as Kurenai was out on a mission at the moment. He also was not one to say no to the promise of food after a long day. Of course, it would seem as if the boy had fallen asleep at the moment, still in the snake woman's arms, but it was only just after lunch time, so they had time.

And that was how Anko found herself covered in rice flour a few hours later as Hiroto giggled and Ibiki chuckled at the spectacle. It was perfect blackmail material for when Anko decided to eat her dango during an interrogation. Though, that one time really did get good results, even if the man hadn't wanted the new piercings that the snake summoner gave him with the left over sticks.

The thestral had not been kidding when she said that the kid was a good cook. Not only had Hiroto happily cooked dinner, but he was even happy to rope the other two in to make desert as well. His trust had been earned so quickly with the other two that it was almost startling. And they somehow found themselves trusting him as well.

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**A/N:** And that concludes my first chapter of this cross over. I hope that you all liked this, and although I already have a pairing in mind, I also have an open mind. I would like to put in a few omakes here and there, and I am willing to listen to whatever ideas that you all might have in that regard!

I hope that you liked my story idea, and I hope that you all review and favorite, and follow this story!

Bye!


	2. Chapter 2: Growing Up

**A/N: **And I'm back! Thank you all so much for reviewing and faving and following. I know that for me it made everything that much better. Now I have come earlier than I thought that I would with a new chapter just for all of you. I hope that you all like it, and please leave more reviews for me. they make want to update faster!

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**Chapter 2: Growing Up**

Hiroto seemed to thrive with his new guardians. Anko became the older sister figure just like she had wanted, and the others in the T&I department grew into a sort of family around him. And although he did spend a majority of his time with the snake summoner, when Anko was out he would be passed from person to person, none really minding the boy seeing as he was easy going and really fun to be around. Plus he could cook, that was something that ninety percent of shinobi could not do.

It was about a month after arriving at the village with Suzu that Anko decided to show Hiroto something new. And for some reason she felt as if waking the young boy up at four in the morning was the way to start off that day.

"Come on Roto-kun! We must be up and out there before the sun rises! I want to show you something!" She bounded into the room with her usual sadistic smirk. Oh yes, she knew that it was an ungodly hour to be awake at, but she wanted her little brother figure to get used to waking up at such times. It was good training. Or, at least, that was the excuse.

"Anko-nee-san, why can't I sleep in ever when I'm here? Inoichi-san lets me sleep in however late I want to when I sleep over at his house with Ino-chan!" The boy pouted. He knew well enough by new to know that he would never win this argument with her, but it was still within his prerogative to try.

Anko laughed before saying "That's too bad. I can't have you getting spoiled here!" It was an utter lie. Everyone knew that given the first chance Anko would spoil him silly. It just depended on what it was that she was spoiling him with.

"Fine, fine, I'm coming!" Hiroto grumbled.

It was a half an hour later when Anko brought him to a stop before training ground 44, or as most of the Leaf Village liked to call it; The Forest of Death. Hiroto was hit with a nostalgic feeling as he looked at the forest. It almost felt as if he had been in a place similar to it before. And he also had the urge to go in and explore it.

"I thought that it might be good for you to see the snakes in here. If you're lucky, we might get one of the smaller ones that you could then train with as if it was a nin animal." Anko announced as she sauntered over to the gates and opened it up so that they could go in. Her own summon hissed slightly so that the snakes would come to them out of curiosity at the very least.

Anko stepped back the moment that a snake came out, and then she would have never admitted it, but she smiled softly at the spectacle of Hiroto speaking to a bunch of oversized snakes in the forest of death without a care in the world. She had already claimed the boy as her brother, but now, even after just a month, she was getting attached. It was something she had tried so hard not to do ever since _he_ had discarded her without hesitation. Anko had almost thought that she would never be able to open up to anyone, but Hiroto had already slipped past her defenses as if they were a curtain one could open at will.

By the end of an hour Anko saw that her little brother figure had almost all of the snakes in this deadly forest loving him as well. He just pulled them in. And then a few seemed to bow to him and left, until only one remained.

When Anko approached she was surprised to see that the snake that had stayed was a very young one that was just over a foot in length at the moment, though she knew it would be growing fairly quickly soon, with white scales and yellow stripes. The only real oddity of the snake was the fact that about three quarters away from the end of the tail, the shake seemed to branch off and lead to two separate heads. Her little brother was now in possession of a two headed snake from The Forest of Death.

"Anko-nee-chan, look; this is Shiro and Taro. They have decided to be my ninja partner!" The little boy with jewel green eyes said in excitement as said snake wound its way up his body so that they could drape over his neck. (**A/N**: they will be referred to as two when speaking about consciousness and things like that, but when talking about their physical presence they are referred to as one snake.)

"Heh, this is going to be very interesting."Anko mumbled as she smirked. Now Inoichi owed her dango. He had bet that the snakes would not give him a partner from the forest when she had told the group she was taking him to the forest to see what would happen.

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It was about a year after that when Hiroto knew that he needed to go out with Suzu to train a new aspect of his bloodline limit. He had already found one facet of it before, but Suzu had just talked to him about it and they were fine. Now he could turn himself invisible on command if he so wanted to. Or, it was invisible to a degree. He was still there and perfectly visible, but for some reason people would look right over him as if he wasn't there. Anko had taken to calling it his 'Notice Me Not Jutsu' seeing as he could walk beside someone for hours and they would not notice him at all.

But this one made his day a living hell! He had woken up like normal, only the house was empty because Anko was at work already, and had begun his morning routine. Everything was perfectly alright. Until he went to the academy and found out way more than he had ever wanted to.

It started off fine. He sat in his usual spot next to Neji, a boy in his class, and looked up at the board to take notes. He studiously ignored the fan girls that surrounded them because of the young Hyuuga as Shiro and Taro hissed softly to him about the lesson going on and what they wanted to do once class was done. And he was taking notes.

Then as he looked up to get the next set of words that he needed to come nose to nose with one of the girls that was looking right at him. His vibrant green eyes clashed with the dark and dull eyes of the girl and he was suddenly seeing into her mind. The experience was not very pleasant, and he found that he had seen some of the memories that were on the surface. Not to mention he had seen the thoughts that flittered across her mind at that moment in time and could help but shudder at them.

As quick as he could he looked away, not realizing that he had only looked at her for a second as all of that had happened. It all just gave him a headache.

But then he remembered what he saw her thinking and turned to Neji before discreetly saying "If I were you, I would use the window as an exit today. The girls in your fandom are planning on waiting for you at the door after class, and I personally would not like to know what their plans are after that."

The young Hyuuga paled at that and bobbed his head once in thanks.

He had caught the gazes of a few more people after that, on accident, and each time he felt as if his brain was dumped on with information. It gave him a headache each time, and by the time lunch rolled around Hiroto was sporting a nasty migraine. He also knew way too much about the personal lives of the people he had seen the minds of. It was almost traumatizing for the nine and a half year old to see just what some shinobi did when they came back from missions.

He didn't even bother to tell the instructors when he left to go to Anko as quickly as possible. He knew that she would want to know that he was going to train with Suzu for a while. He needed to tell her so that she wouldn't freak out on her boss and coworkers when he was MIA for the next week or so.

Coming up to the kunoichi at the front desk, he asked "Excuse me, can you tell me where Anko-san is?"

"Sorry kid, but she just stared an interrogation with Ibiki, so you are going to have to wait until they are done." The woman answered without looking up from her paper work. Hiroto didn't like her at all.

Feigning taking a seat in the waiting area, he slipped into his 'notice me not' trick and made his way past the woman. From there he easily went down into the interrogation section of the place and started to look for Anko. The sounds coming from the building didn't bother him seeing as he lived with Anko for a while and was desensitized to it and he understood why it had to be done.

Shiro and Taro both hissed, indicating the door to his right had both Anko and Ibiki inside, so he walked over and knocked.

It was opened by Anko who saw him and let him in after making sure that no one had followed him. When he looked into the room he saw a man tied to a chair sporting only superficial wounds. It was clear that they had not started the hard core interrogation yet. That was also probably a good thing. Then Hiroto momentarily forgot to not look at the eyes and found himself see in the thoughts as they flittered through the man's brain and were telegraphed through the eyes and to Hiroto.

"Roto-kun, is there something wrong?" Anko asked as she went in front of his and tried to catch his eyes.

"I need to go with Suzu for a while." He said softly, still not looking his big sister in the eye.

"Why?" Anko prompted. She wasn't going to say no, but she was curious.

Hiroto then looked back at the man before saying "Anko-nee-san, he doesn't want to say anything to you because the bandits that forced him to come here have his wife as a hostage. And they don't know it yet, but his wife is pregnant. He is more afraid of losing her then of being tortured." The moment he said it the man began to babble off excuses and reasons why he couldn't say anything. Hiroto put his head in his hands, clearly suffering from a head ache.

Both adults that had been with him when he had first come to the village were reminded of what Suzu had said about the little one's abilities. And seeing it, they could tell that the cost of the jutsu clearly was hurting the boy's head.

"Alright Hiroto-kun, you can go off with Suzu, I'll let the academy and everyone else know that you won't be there for a while."Anko said softly as she hugged him before pushing him out the door, knowing that he would make it out alright.

0oOo0oOo0oOo0

It was actually two weeks that he had spent out of the town with the thestral that was training him in the powers that he was gaining. The problem that he was having was that Hiroto had to learn to shield his mind before he could learn to master looking into someone else's mind. And that was something that the boy with green eyes was almost helpless at.

But through heavy meditation and the promise that they weren't going anywhere until he learned it, he managed it. Now that the shields were up, Hiroto didn't have to worry about looking into people's eyes and seeing things that he didn't want to. And of course, after that, it only took him two days to become proficient with looking into people's minds. He was a natural at that part of it.

What was almost worse than the training was coming back and having Anko smother him. As she went on and on about how she had thought his brain had exploded during training, it took about three of her coworkers and Ibiki to drag her off of him so that the boy could breathe again.

The best part of the ordeal was that the very next day Hiroto was able to go back to the academy. Though, he did have to spend almost the entire night working on the things that he missed. Lee had been nice enough to get them for him and drop them off with Ino so that she could given them to Inoichi so that he, in turn, could given them to Anko. One would think that they would have found an easier way to do things, but whatever.

"So where did you run off to?" Neji asked as Hiroto took his usual seat next to the talented Hyuuga. He admitted that he thought of the raven haired boy with the green eyes as a friend. He didn't seem to care about his family's reputation, he didn't mind that Neji was rather cold and arrogant, and he didn't try and talk about frivolous things. So, when the Hyuuga did speak with his fellow student, he found that he liked the conversation with the boy that was adopted by the T&I department. Though, the Hyuuga did find it interesting that the boy didn't have a last name. It was not a common occurrence, but it was the same with a few others in the class as well.

"Part of my bloodline trait came in and I needed to go off to train it before it melted my brain." Hiroto answered. He knew not to tell what his bloodline was, but he also wanted to be as honest as he could. Besides, Neji seemed to only speak with him, and Hiroto didn't want that trust to be lost yet.

Neji simply nodded. He had noticed the teen was clutching his head a bit before leaving the other day, and knew not to ask about bloodline traits. Unlike the others who would pry, since he had the byakugan he understood that they were usually clan secrets that were not supposed to be shared with others. He also assumed that his family had left scrolls with him and that was how he had trained his new found abilities.

As the class went on and on about something or other both of the teens were bored out of their minds. It was a history lesson that they both had learned about before. Neji because of his family and Hiroto because the Hokage wanted to make sure that the boy knew about his new home. Somehow, they had ended up playing hangman on a stray piece of paper that was between them. The funny part was that they were doing names of famous ninjas that had protected the village. It was something that the arrogant Hyuuga branch member allowed himself seeing as they were still on the topic of the lecture that was going on.

Beside Hiroto, Shiro and Taro had curled up and made sure that their two heads were facing away from each other as they basked in the patch of sunlight that gathered through the window. Both heads could care less about what was going on in the class as long as they got to sleep or joke around with each other. Besides, only Hiroto could hear them anyway.

As the instructor kept prattling on and on, Neji wrote an S on the bottom of the paper only to have Hiroto put a cross in it and draw a head on the gallows that he had set up. Scrunching up his face slightly, Neji then wrote and N and Hiroto had to grudgingly give him that one. There was in fact one N in the name that he had chosen. The Hyuuga then smirked as he finished the name based solely on that.

Hiroto pouted slightly, but it was to be expected. Right as Neji was about to set up the next name, the teacher called an end to the lecture and they all headed outside so that he could teach the civilian students how to throw shuriken. This was once again dead boring sine both of them had also been taught that by their respective guardians.

Hiroto was also fairly proficient with senbon due to Anko's dango infatuation. They would often sit and eat them, and then the two would throw the leftover sticks at a tree or wall (sometimes even the ceiling) and try to see who could make the better picture. He had been terrible at it before, but after over a year of living with her Hiroto had gotten the hang of it. Even if Anko won every time, it was mostly due to the fact that she just ate more of the stuff and so had more sticks to make the picture with.

As the day ended, Hiroto waited for Ino before walking her to the flower shop. Since the T&I department was going to be fairly busy, he had been dumped on the one house with another adult present that wouldn't mind taking care of him. It also might have helped that he had become something of an older brother figure for Ino.

The only down side was that he was forced to listen when his little sister went on and on about some Sasuke Uchiha. She was a complete fan girl about him at times. But at least Hiroto was able to help her train a bit, and she didn't make it her whole life when she was alone. Hiroto would have handed her over to Anko if she was too obsessed.

Inoichi also was grateful that Hiroto could get her out of the fan girl mindset every once in a while. And to show his gratitude, the mind delver had given the boy a few basic healing jutsu scrolls that would introduce him to that type of chakra use. He wanted to encourage that thinking mindset because it was always good to know a little bit of healing jutsu when out on a mission.

0oOo0oOo0oOo0

It was finally here. The day that all of the academy students were waiting for. It was the day where the graduating academy students tried their hands at becoming genin. It was the day to be feared and to be loved. And For Neji and Hiroto, it was the day that they both knew would symbolize them earning their hitai-ates and making the people who raised them proud. Though Neji could care less what his uncle thought.

All throughout the test Hiroto was a hyper mess of a kid. And it only got worse the closer it came to being done. But in the end he was given the shiny new band to go around his head and announce to everyone that he was now a shinobi. That also symbolized that he was an adult in the eyes of the law.

As he skipped to Anko's place afterwards, excited about getting his new team the next day, he couldn't help but think about what he was going to do when he started earning some real cash. The very first thing that he was going to do would be to get an apartment. Seeing as he was living between four or five different people's houses, it wasn't really the best way to go. And he wanted stability. Plus, a few of the places really didn't like it that Shiro and Taro went everywhere with him.

As he sat next to Neji as he waited for team assignments. The green eyed boy couldn't help but hope to be put on the same team as the Hyuuga. They both got along, and he knew that the boy wouldn't leave him behind.

"… and on team two we have Nara Shikako, Hiroto, and Aburame Hotaru." Hiroto deflated slightly as he heard that, and then a couple of minutes later Neji has a scowl on his face when he learned who his two team mates were. While Hiroto was with a lazy genius and a bug girl, Neji was stuck with the boy with no chakra and the girl who was obsessed with both weapons and boys.

"Good luck," Hiroto muttered to his friend as he left to go meet up with the two others on his team. They were told that they would be meeting their jounin sensei after lunch. He didn't catch the nod that the Hyuuga gave him.

"So, Nara-san, Aburame-san, would you two like to have lunch with me so that we can introduce ourselves?" Hiroto asked as he walked up to the two girls who were now on his team. He knew to tread carefully with members of the opposite sex, years of dealing with Anko and Ino had taught him that it was better to be safe than sorry with them. After all, they were a different type of breed of human in comparison to the guys.

"Whatever," the young Nara answered. She was fairly tall with dark, waist length hair that was pulled into a low ponytail. Hiroto suspected that it was 'troublesome' to take the time to cut it. She also had dark black eyes and wore the dark grays and greens that were associated with her clan.

"It would be beneficial." The bug user added as they all walked out of the class room and somehow managed to end up on the grass below a tree. She was also sporting long dark brown hair, but he had no clue what her eyes looked like under the sunglasses. She was also wearing a rather large and baggy coat that was traditional with the majority of her clan.

Surprisingly, after he got under the strict attitude of the Aburame and the laziness of the Nara, they all seemed to get along wonderfully. It also seemed to help that all three of them were really intelligent and could actually keep a half decent conversation going when prompted. And Hiroto was thanking his lucky stars that the two didn't start trying to talk about boys around him. That would have been worse than when Ino did it because he would actually know the boys that they were fantasizing about.

"Team two, your sensei is here." The instructor announced after they had come back in. Looking over Hiroto was looking at a man who was rather unimpressive compared to some of the other shinobi that were in this town. He was singularly unmemorable. And that was how Hiroto knew he was someone to watch out for.

After following the man to a park that was still inside of the village and seeing him making sure that he had them in the darkest part of the park, the jounin began the introductions. "Hello, my name is Ogawa Shouta, you all can call me Ogawa-sensei, and I am going to be your jounin sensei if you pass a test tomorrow. In the interest of getting to know you all, I would like you all to tell me your names and your two favorite jutsus that you can do."

"I am Nara Shikako, and my favorite jutsu is my Shadow Possession Jutsu. It allows me to control the person who I have trapped in my shadow. My second favorite would be the Transformation Jutsu because it allows me to blend in where I might not have before and can be great for when I need to get blackmail material for various reasons." The Nara said lazily, though inside she was calculating the possibilities of the test that the jounin was going to have them do.

She could already see this team as being something of an intelligence gathering team just from the brains that they all seemed to have and the fact that their sensei was not overly obvious like some of the others that were around.

The bug user went next as she said "I am Aburame Hotaru, and my favorite jutsus are my Dance of the Fireflies Jutsu and my Bug Clone Jutsu. The first is used at night for distracting the enemy while simultaneously eating their chakra at a rate that they wouldn't notice. And the second creates a solid clone made up of my bugs."

Hiroto smiled as the spotlight turned to him. Though, he was almost conflicted on which jutsu he should choose as his favorite. In the end he decided to go for the one that he used the most and knew first. "Hello, I am Hiroto, no last name, this here is my partner; the left head is called Shiro and the right is called Taro, and my favorite jutsu is my Notice Me Not Jutsu. It allows me to walk among people without anyone really noticing me. I can walk alongside two people who are having a very privet conversation, and if I don't speak they will never notice that I am there."

He saw with a bit of pleasure that all of their eyes narrowed at him. It was something that was not heard of, especially in a ninja village. Usually shinobi were always on edge and were observant of anything going on around them. The fact that he could go unnoticed by trained high ranking shinobi was almost unbelievable.

"Does it work on shinobi as well?" Hotaru asked, her intellectual curiosity getting the better of her.

"Anko-nee-chan had me try it out on Ibiki-san and Inoichi-san when I first discovered it, and they only noticed me when I sneezed on accident. It wasn't very fun when they saw me after that." Hiroto said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He had been forced to clean out some of the interrogation rooms after that stunt, and it was nasty work.

"And your second favorite jutsu?" Ogawa asked. He was rather interested if there was another interesting jutsu that he could perform.

"Well, I don't know if I understand the name, but Suzu calls it Legilimency Jutsu. It I similar to the Yamanaka Mind Delving Jutsu, but all I need is eye contact and I can see the thoughts that are on the forefront of the mind. But I don't do that unless I have to because it hurts my head and I learn way too much that I didn't want to know anyway." He answered with a slight shiver. "Other than that it can be pretty cool!"

He still couldn't look the instructor at the academy in the eye after an entire year had passed since the incident. Hiroto was glad that he had never looked Anko in the eyes without his Occlumency shields up. He was afraid of what he might uncover if he did. Anko had her secrets, and Hiroto knew not to pry into his older sister's life.

"Right, well, now that we all know that, I want you all to be here tomorrow at eight in the morning." Ogawa said before he left in a puff of smoke and swirl of leaves.

0oOo0oOo0oOo0

**OMAKE:**

The ominous humming from inside his daughter's room made Inoichi more than a little bit nervous. He remembered days where it was normal to see his little girl light up over having him show her his family's techniques. But now it seemed as if she lighted up to seeing the Uchiha boy looking anywhere near her.

He had tried so hard, really he did, but it seemed as if nothing could have stopped his daughter from getting into the fan girl epidemic that had plagued the female population of the academy. He had been leaving Hiroto in charge more often in hopes of braking it by having a friend who was a boy, Alas, it had not happened yet. Although the boy could snap her out of it from time to time, she always seemed to tevert back when she was alone again.

"I think that it's a disease!" Hiroto said from behind him.

Inoichi would have jumped if he hadn't seem used to the boy popping up at random times. As it was the new jutsu that he used that made him undetectable was refined by using him and the others that he was always around.

"Yes, but I think that it will take a while for it to run its course." The blond man answered the boy with a sigh.

"Maybe I'll find something in the new medical scroll that you gave me. So far I have found that it is contagious to girls once they reach a certain age. Maybe if we quarantine them all it will get rid of the problem so that it won't spread." The boy suggested as he looked to the giggling with a weary expression. He had seen how scary the fan girl syndrome could make the girls in his class and he was worried that his little sister would get that bad soon.

The man sighed "I'm afraid that it would come again in a different strain. But if you do find the cure, you could make millions. Please let me know if these help."

He then handed the new medical jutsu scrolls to the boy as a thanks to watching his daughter before he went to put his work things away. He didn't want to leave weapons around for his wife and daughter to stumble on. Even if Ino was working on being a kunoichi, until she was a genin, he wasn't going to trust her around any of his personal weapons.

Right before Hiroto left he walked over to the older man and asked in hushed tones "Did Anko get it when she was younger, or should I be worried?"

Inoichi almost choked as he looked at the boy in front of him. A fan girl Anko was something that everyone should be scared of. And that didn't even include the fact that she would rather kill the person who tried to make her that way than actually be that way.

"Um, I don't think that you have to worry about it. There is an age limit to it. Like the Chicken Pox, only this is a disease of the brain. I don't think that you have anything to worry about. When they get old enough they are mature enough not to fall into it for the most part." He answered.

"Thank god. I don't think I could handle her with stars in her eyes and squealing at the littlest of things. And if she started to giggle for no reason, or even at all, I think that I would never be able to even look at her again!" With that the boy left with his scroll in hand.

Even if Ino was alright if he distracted her enough, the moment that they got back she had to go into that room and started with that giggling. It sent chills down his spine! For the first time he sympathized with Neji.

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**A/N: **and that's a wrap. I hope that you all liked it and that you will leave a review to tell me how it was. also, I got no omake suggestions...if anyone anywhere has some that i might be able to include, tell me please. thank you all for reading, and i wish everyone a happy holidays. if only there was more snow over here. Then life would be perfect.


	3. Chapter 3: Genin Team Blues

**A/N: **And here I have another chapter! Yay! I thank you all for reading, but I will admit that I am slightly sad that hardly anyone reviewed. It made me sad. So please, after you read this, let me know what you think. Also, no one has given me any ideas for Omakes yet! Please, if you have an idea, let me know.

On to this chapter. I warn you that I have the OC's that I introduced earlier, and that they are going to be great! I like them in any event. This chapter is mostly about development and a sampling of the skills that Hiroto has. If you have any question don't hesitate to ask. It is also how he manages to get to some of the other well known characters that I have been mentioning here or there. So I hope you all like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. And I didn't last chapter either, but I forget to say it. But you all know that I couldn't possibly own it anyway. Otherwise this wouldn't be a fanfiction.

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**Chapter Three: Genin Team Blues**

It had been a few months since then, and the three had become friends as well as teammates. Of course they had passed the test with flying colors, and they still teased the man who was their sensei about the circumstances occasionally.

It was funny. The day after they had met him he told them that they were more than likely going to be an intelligence gathering group, so to test them they had to find out what he had done the night before.

He said that while looking directly into Hiroto's eyes, who got the hint and looked into the man's eyes and into his thoughts before he sighed before announcing that the jounin only wanted them to do it because he had been so drunk that he couldn't remember anything past his twelfth shot of liquor. It was something that their new sensei had done on purpose because he knew that he often times did the craziest of things while he was inebriated.

Three hours later, working as a team, they had found that he had left the bar, got a small tattoo in between his shoulder blades that said 'Determination' before playing cards at a friend's house where he passed out and was dragged home none too gently by the friend in question.

Needless to say, it was the tattoo that they hounded him about.

They were given a week of training before they would start missions, and Hiroto could honestly say he was glad for how crazy the people who had raised him were. It had given him an edge to survive the harsh physical and mental training that Ogawa-sensei had put them through.

After that they were given the weekend off to let the families know that the missions were going to start and so they might be gone for indefinite amounts of time and come home worse for wear. After letting Anko know that, Suzu had pulled him aside and told him that it was time for him to finally meet his summon animals. It was interesting that the thestral never really made the effort to come in front of his team, but was always there when they parted ways, except for the one time when he had seen her talking to his sensei in hushed tones.

Anyway, after she had flown him a far way away from the village, she had given him a scroll to sign and then talked him through the science of summoning before telling him to summon with as much chakra as he could.

He did as he was told and gaped as the chakra smoke cleared to show a sixty foot tall dragon with metallic gray/silver scales and red eyes. As it turned out his name was Ryuunosuke, and he was a Ukrainian Ironbelly (whatever that meant) who also happened to be the boss summon of the dragons. They had levelheadedly spoken, and after a few hours of talking he had dubbed the green eyed boy worthy of summoning the dragons to his cause.

He had been warned about the Hungarian Horntail (to only use in the event of an emergency) before he was told to summon the Antipodean Opaleye. Hiroto gasped as he saw the beautiful dragon that has pearly scales and glittering multicolor eyes. It was named Nijiiro, and he was the main summon that Hiroto was allowed to summon, even if he was allowed to summon all of them.

The thing about Nijiiro was that in his original form he was about forty feet tall, he was also able to shrink into the size of a small dog when needed. In fact whenever he needed the dragon he could control how big the dragon would be by changing the amount of chakra that he pumped into the summoning of him.

Of course, the dragons didn't tell him everything that he would need to know in the future. They had found him able to summon, and his levelheadedness had made him worthy, but he still needed to prove his judgment to the dragon boss before they really and truly accepted him as their summoner. After all, dragons were very proud creatures by nature.

He didn't tell the team about his contract yet. It was his trump card that they could use when needed. Not even the family he had made in the T&I department knew of the contract, even if they knew that he had gone out with the winged death horse for the day to train. Hiroto would tell them, but Suzu had agreed that they would tell them when the time was right.

When the team had gotten back after the weekend they were given a series of D rank missions. They were all getting along fine, but after the last one where they had to help build a shed, they had all but begged Ogawa-sensei to give them something better than that. The three of them understood the importance of such missions and of how they integrated the shinobi into the village and formed bonds of trust and loyalty, but after the twentieth they had enough of them. They had argued that the simplistic and boring missions were eating away at their intelligence; intelligence that they would need later when they were given more important missions. Of course the word troublesome was thrown out there multiple times as well.

And now they were finally going to go on a C ranked mission outside of Konoha. It was a simple delivery of medicine and supplies to one of the more secluded villages. Hiroto was happy about that because he would be able to help people, and maybe see if he was any good at healing jutsus. Even if he had learned them from the scroll, and had tried the first level stuff on animals, he still had no clue if he could do what he was supposed to on an actual human.

When they met up outside of the gates, even the Nara seemed to be buzzing with excitement. Then again, over the past few months of training with her Hiroto had found that she really wasn't like that all the time. She just was more intellectual then the other two.

Hiroto and Hotaru both dreaded getting trapped in her shadow during spars because there was nothing they could do against it while she still had chakra to spare. Meanwhile, they all hated it whenever Hiroto would just blink out of their conscious minds and ambush them that way. And then there was the dreaded chakra drain that they had to deal with when fighting the Aburame. But they were all getting better, and that was what mattered.

"Alright team, this is a C rank mission because there have been a few attacks on the road, but to be honest there really shouldn't be any difficulties on this mission. Just listen to me and everything will be fine." Ogawa-sensei announced as they started off down the path. Each of them had a few scrolls that were strapped to their backs that held the medical supplies.

"Hai, sensei," the three genin chorused.

For the rest of the walk they all were just enjoying the silence. Shikako was used to long walks in the woods on the Nara property, or sending the day out with the dear. Hotaru was also used to going out to collect various bug samples and whatnot. Hiroto liked it because it allowed him some peace to think. Anko had all but smothered him the night before. In fact, she had to almost force fed him dango after he couldn't eat any more.

After almost a full day of not speaking for the group, they had reached the town and had dropped off the scrolls with the head of the village before Ogawa called them in for a team meeting for something he called super special secret training. To many expletives if you asked the three pre-teens, but they went along with it anyway.

"Here is your assignment; I want each of you to mingle with the locals and find out everything you can until morning. Then you all will come back and tell me everything. Also, make sure that they don't know you are ninja while you do this." He said before clapping his hands and dismissing them. All three of them didn't miss the fact that he headed to the nearest bar after saying that. They had noticed that he liked to get drunk whenever he could, but so long as it didn't bother their training the genin could care less about it. They were a laid back teem as it was, and who were they to complain about the vices of their sensei?

With a nod to the girls, Hiroto put on a henge that changed his clothes and hid everything ninja before he went to the hospital to see if he could help out. He also knew from experience that the nurses loved to chat things up with a new guy. On his way to the hospital he also instructed Shiro and Taro to go and wait for him in the room they were supposedly staying in for the night. A two headed snake was bound to get noticed. Also, it was not common for anyone to bring pets into a hospital. Hiroto had decided that he didn't want the headache of it.

Going right up to the front desk he put on a shy, yet confident smile, and said "Hello, I was wondering if I could help out on some of your rounds today. I'm traveling through and I know how to use healing chakra to an extent. I was hoping that I could help out in some way."

The look in her eyes was kin to hero worship as she looked up at him. "Yes! Yes, I will call for Hitomi; you can go with her on her rounds. She has a shift in the ER in an hour as well. That is, if you're willing. I mean, we need all the help we can get!" she babbled as she made the PA announcement asking for the nurse in question. Hiroto had to hide his smirk; he had always known that they would welcome a traveling aspiring healer without question.

A few minutes later a woman with long black hair and hazel eyes came over and then dragged him off to see patients after a very, very, brief exchange of pleasantries. After about eight grueling hours of learning that he actually could use his medical jutsu to a rookie extent, Hitomi was done for the day and took pity in the over worked shinobi by offering to take him out for drinks with a few of the other nurses who had gotten off at the same time.

Of course it did help that his healing chakra had helped a lot. He would get started on the internal stuff that was rather tricky before handing it off to the others for the brunt of the work. Even then it was very helpful and cut down on both the operation and recovery times. But even then none of the injuries had been very serious, and Hiroto knew that if he had been up against a fatal injury he would not have been that much help. What he did was helpful, but he was still just a novice.

And when they were out for drinks he had been introduced to a few other people who made information collecting easier. Though, he did notice the disappointment in the eyes of the nurses, especially with Hitomi, when he told them that he had to go back to his home village the next day.

By the time he got back to where they were staying, it was about three in the morning, and he was about ready to collapse. Taking off the henge, he entered and promptly fell asleep, just barely noting that the two girls had made it back before him, and that his sake partner was asleep, and that their sensei was still out, probably at the bar still.

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When the morning came, or a few hours passed as Hiroto saw it, they all woke up and were ready to report to their sensei.

"Ladies first, why don't you start Shikako-chan?" Ogawa-sensei started with his usual smile. How he was not hung-over, none of them knew.

"Well, it really does seem as if this is a normal town. I crashed a party that some of the civilians set up and learned quite a bit about the relationships and gossip around. It was all very troublesome, but I also found that there was a bit of a scandal involving one of the higher raking officials and the daughter of one of the teachers at the school. There has been a ton of political chaos that has ensued because of that." Shikako said as she stifled a yawn.

Ogawa nodded his head, glad to see that the Nara put some effort into the assignment that he had issued. He then looked at the Aburame and nodded for her to make her report.

Hotaru began in her clan famed monotone by saying "I decided to camp out in a local food joint and sent my bugs out to spy. There has been a recent increase in the labor force that have been frequenting the establishments in town, and they aren't always the best sort of people. Also, there had been talk about prices going up because trade routes between them and a few of the neighboring villages have been rather dangerous. Also, there are a few people who were speaking of strange noises coming from the woods for some reason."

Another nod from their sensei, and they all turned to Hiroto to see what he had done. None of them had actually seen him the night before, and the girls had both tried to stay up and wait for him only to fall asleep after two whole hours of waiting.

"I thought that it would be best to get more than one type of training done, so I volunteered at the local hospital for the night to train my medical jutsu as I spoke with the nurses on duty. And when the shift was over they all took me out drinking. I learned that they have been going through medical supplies a lot lately because of a mass of newly injured people that they are not familiar with. And when I was at the bar I met with one such individual. One of the nobles has taken an interest in this town and has been hiring unskilled laborers to help in the construction of a new home. Also, they are not all of the savory variety, and with the faulty equipment that is being used people keep getting hurt. Apparently some of the men were also getting in trouble in town, and it has most of the nurses I talked to a little jumpy at best." He stated.

"Nice. All three of you got different but vital information from different sources. Plus you all made it a point not to seem like you were poking around for information. Well done." Their sensei said with a kind smile on his face. If there was any doubt about what they were going to be specializing as a team before this it was stamped out right then and there.

They headed out then, all three of the genin more tired than they wanted to admit to their sensei. But they trooped on all the way to the gates where they then rejoiced after reporting in to the Hokage with the help of some BBQ that was picked up on Ogawa's tab. Ah, the salary of a jounin, something that Hiroto was already dreaming of having access to.

It would have been three days after that when team two was given another mission to the same town. They once again needed medical supplies, but this time it was because there had been an attack on the outskirts of the village and they were under stocked when it came to the equipment needed to handle more serious injuries like the ones that had popped up.

This time, when they got there, Ogawa turned to the three and said "The Hokage has asked to find out if these attacks are going to be a threat to Konoha. You have the same job as last time, but Hiroto-kun, I need you to get into the hospital and look into the minds of those where were attacked and then report to me what you find. Err on the side of caution. I do not want any of you three to get into more trouble than you can handle. If things go bad, find me immediately!"

With nods the three spread out. Hiroto once again henged himself to bend in and went to the same woman to sweet talk his way into the hospital. To say that the receptionist lit up when she saw him coming over would have been an understatement. She practically threw herself at him while asking if he could help them.

And that was how Hiroto spent the rest of the day. He was thanking every deity he knew that they trusted him without question for some reason because it allowed the preteen to gain access to the people he needed to and learn about what had happened. Almost immediately after he had confirmed it in all of the victims, he used his chakra on a few of the harder wounds and then apologized his way out of the hospital while feigning chakra exhaustion. He had been helping for over five hours at that point, so they let him go with little complaint.

Rushing to the nearest bar, Hiroto frantically looked for Ogawa-sensei as he slipped through the people. He had already activated the Notice Me Not trait of his bloodlimit so that no one would notice, and he knew that his sensei had to be somewhere close by.

Seeing him by the bar, Hiroto rushed over and placed himself in between the man his sensei was speaking to and Ogawa. And to make sure that he was the only one to see him, Hiroto tapped the jounin's knee.

The look on Shouta's face was almost comical as Hiroto snapped into his attention while he still noticed the man across from him hadn't even noticed the kid's existence. If he hadn't been used to Hiroto's jutsu, he might have freaked, but as it was he was a jounin and knew how to pretend not to notice something that had surprised him.

"Ah, you know what; I just remembered that I have to be up early tomorrow. It's probably best not to get there hung over and without sleep. I'll see you around!" Shouta said smoothly as he left the bar with Hiroto in tow.

"Alright gaki, what was so important that you had to get me out of there like that?" He asked when they were back inside the room they were staying in.

"I looked into the minds of the people that were attacked, and I'm pretty sure that the people who attacked were missing nin from Ishigakure. They had the symbol on their head bands, but there were also a few with a different symbol. I don't know for sure which village it came from, it looked as if it could have been Kirigakure, but from the way they all were talking they were not a part of a hidden village anymore." Hiroto announced as he looked into his sensei's dark eyes with a level of seriousness that the man hadn't seen from him before.

"Shit," the jounin swore as he thought over what he was going to do. It wasn't like a genin team specializing in information gathering was going to be any match for even one missing nin. "How many are there?" He asked.

"From the memories I saw five. But they were only playing with the villagers, and there could have been more that the people didn't find. Also, it sounded as if the two that I think might be from mist were about to move on." He answered without hesitation.

"Alright, I'm going to go and find the other two, and then we are going to go as quickly as we can back to Konoha so that we can get some of the other shinobi in on this. If for whatever reason they find you when you are alone, your first priority is surviving. There is no shame in living so that you can fight another day." Ogawa said before he sushined out to find the girls.

Once they were back and the girls had been told of what was going on, they all left the village under the cover of night to get back to the leaf as fast as they could. All three of the genin were now stunned with the adrenalin surge that came from knowing that there was an enemy around. They were all alert as they rushed through the shadows.

It was half way to the town when they were ambushed. It was the three from rock that had cornered them. They had stopped suddenly when the first of the missing nin landed right in their path. He was big, even by shinobi standards, and it looked as if he could become one with a mountain if he truly wanted to. Even his scars seemed to look like cracks and crevasses that one would normally find in stone.

"Hm, little leaf shinobi out for a play date it seems. Too bad our mist friends left, they could have shared in the fun!" He said with a gruff, barely used voice.

"Well, with them gone it does mean more fun for us." mussed a man who came from their back. Hotaru and Hiroto both spun and brought out kunai as they faced the new opponent. Their sensei and other team mate continued to watch the man in front of them.

"We should get them done before it wakes up, you know how messy he gets when he plays." The first continued to pretend as if the four leaf shinobi were like sheep, and thus unable to speak up or even understand that they were plotting their deaths right in front of them.

"Shikako, work with the other two and try and get the one behind us. I'll have to deal with this one alone." Ogawa said as he brought out his own blades and took a step forward. He had recognized both from the bingo books, and so he knew that the one in front of them was by far the more powerful one. And if the third person they were mentioning was the one that he thought they were speaking of, they had to get of there before he came to work with the two partners.

The ensuing fight was like nothing that the three genin had ever faced before. As they were fighting for their lives it was clear that the other nin was just messing with them. But there was a tipping point in the fight when Shikako was able to grab onto the man by his shadow and had him in a lock. Hotaru quickly took advantage of that and sent in her bugs to drain his chakra as Hiroto sent in a few waves of senbon that hit his joints and disabled movement enough to where the man was unable to move arms and legs. It was a technique that Anko had taught him once she found that he was good with the needle like projectiles.

It had all been a stroke of luck that they had even managed that. The man was careless and far too stupid not to get cocky. Not to mention that he had given them enough time to get him trapped while he played with them. All it took was for the two headed snake to snap at his heals and move him closer to the shadow that was trying to catch him, and Shikako caught the opportunity. Each of the genin had an impressive number of scratches from the projectiles that he had thrown their way. When they looked back to their sensei they saw that he was bleeding rather badly from a number of places, and Hiroto went up to him out of instinct to try and heal him.

It seemed as if luck was on his side and not the other two of his team. No sooner had Hiroto left the girls then the ground right under where he was standing seemed to explode. The girls screamed as they were caught up in it. Hiroto watched in horror as Hotaru stumbled away on a leg that looked like it was almost shredded. Meanwhile, Shikako was out cold by what looked to be a blow to the head that was bleeding rather freely.

He called out to them, but was stopped from going to them by his sensei who looked right behind where they were to see a tank of a man standing there. If Hiroto had thought the other man was large, then this one was gigantic.

"Remember what I told you Hiroto-kun; there is no shame in running. If you get an opening to get the girls back to Konoha, take it. It does not matter what happens to me. Do you understand?" Ogawa-sensei asked as he kept his eyes on the man who had just come out of nowhere.

"Hai, sensei," the boy with the green eyes answered reluctantly. He didn't want to leave the jounin, but at the same time he knew very well that he was of very little help to the man. Especially when he felt the throbbing of the stab wound that he had been given to the gut. If he were to try and help, he would have only gotten in the way.

"This man is known to almost indestructible. The best that I can hope for is that I distract him long enough for you to get away. I will follow if I can." His sensei said.

With a nod, Hiroto followed his sensei as they both went forward. But as the man he had come to respect kept going after the missing nin, Hiroto stopped at his teammates and strapped the taller one, Shikako, to his back as he picked up the smaller one, Hotaru, in his arms. She whimpered slightly at the jostling, but they both knew there was nothing that he could do about it. It was the only way that he saw to get them out of there. He then started to run only to get hit in the side by something and was sent flying to the side. Both of his teammates were also thrown haphazardly from him, and this time Hotaru didn't even make a noise. She had fallen into darkness from the pain.

Looking over his shoulder, he noticed that the damn nin had created a clone out of rock to stop them. Hiroto started to panic as he thought through his own strength in relation to the strength of the person in front of him. It just got him to focus on the fact that there was no comparison.

A dark laugh slipped out from the clone as he taunted "A little boy like you has no business being a shinobi. I should kill your precious teammates in front of you and then slowly torture you to insanity before sending you back. It should be fun, and at the very least it will give me something to do. All of this running around has been rather boring to be honest with you." He then swung his foot right at Hotaru.

Hiroto acted on instinct and managed to get the Aburame out of the way, only to get hit in the side. He heard and felt it as his ribs cracked under the strain of the hit. And it hurt a lot. But in that instance he hissed in pain while also ordering Shiro and Taro to guard his two teammates as he figured out what to do. The snake was not too happy with the order, but they knew better than to question Hiroto's orders.

"Hiroto, use your summons!" A voice coming from the sky yelled at him.

It only took a second for him to recognize it as Suzu before he did exactly what she said and slammed his bloodied hand to the ground after making a few hand signs. Nijiiro came out about the size of a dog at his summons, but the moment that he saw the opponent, he somehow managed to get to the size of a horse.

The pale dragon let loose a roar that spewed orange fire at the clone. His pupil-less multicolored eyes were narrowed in anger as he did so. Hiroto watched in fascination as the fire melted the rock clone before his very eyes. He was amazed that something that seemed so powerful to him was easily taken out by the dragon he had summoned.

"Please, you have to help my sensei, he was fighting the real one over there!" He begged the summon.

The dragon nodded his head before speeding over there, followed closely by Hiroto who wanted to know what had happened to Ogawa. He came just in time to watch as the missing nin broke the jounin's arm. And from the odd angle that his one leg was in, Hiroto could guess that it was broken as well.

"Ogawa-sensei!" He yelled on instinct. Of course that moved his cracked, more like obliterated, ribcage in a way that made the young shinobi wince in pain.

The jounin looked up, obviously shocked that the genin was still there. "I told you to run!" He bit out at Hiroto. Just as the man was about to stomp on the leg of Shouta, Nijiiro was there. He tore into the leg of the nin before he brought his clawed foreleg up to the man's stomach and cut through the flesh as if it was butter.

The missing nin was out a minute later, clearly dead.

"Hiroto-sama, I wish to convey my congratulations on the first summoning during a battle, now you must meet with Ryuunosuke once more before summoning us again. It is customary of the dragon contract. Good luck with the rest of your journey home." The dragon said with respect as he bowed and poofed out of there.

"Tie up the one you three incapacitated, I'm sure Anko and Ibiki will have fun with him. If you are able, you need to make sure that Hotaru and Shikako are alright. Go do that now. I might be about to pass out, but I know that I am not injured enough to die." The jounin said a moment later. He knew that they would need to get to Konoha, or they all were going to die.

Gripping his ribs, and knowing that somehow he had been the least wounded by the entire ordeal, he went to the two girls and began working. First he started to Hotaru. He used his chakra to the best of his ability to get the internal and serious damage minimalized before going back on good old first aid to close the wound and wrap it up. The girl had long been unconscious due to the pain and shock that she was going through. He also knew that he needed to do something for the shock, but there was nothing around for him to use. It was almost frustrating.

He then turned to his Nara teammate and tried to get a good look at her head. But he was still unsure of what he was doing with that. He knew that she had a nasty head wound, and that there probably was swelling of the brain and maybe internal bleeding, but he didn't know anything more than that. So he flooded her head with healing chakra and prayed that it would do some good for her.

Suzu had landed by him then and he secured the two on her back before going back his sensei to see the man was setting his bones.

"You should have asked for help!" Hiroto said as he came forward to stop the man from doing something that would make it worse than it already was. "You did your arm wrong anyhow. Just hold still for a few second and I can help you!" The boy didn't realize it, but he was in his hospital mode. He was immune to the carnage and the two dead bodies, even the fact that the people he was healing were close to him. All he saw was the wound that he was helping with, it was all that mattered.

The jounin conceded, knowing that the boy had some experience where he had none. After another fifteen minutes he was splinted so as not to mess up the bones any more. Plus, the green eyed genin had flooded the sections with healing chakra in an attempt to at least dull the pain and promote natural healing to happen.

Tying up the man who was still alive but unable to move, Hiroto asked Suzu to drag him along as they went the rest of the way to Konoha. The two headed snake was coiled lightly around the girls to make sure that they were alright and secure as Hiroto was helping his sensei by acting as a crutch so that he could keep his weight off of the leg that was broken, it wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing.

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The scene that they made while walking through the gates was nothing if not memorable. All four shinobi were bleeding, two were passed out still, and the death horse that was carrying the unconscious also was dragging around a prisoner who was still stuck with senbon like a pincushion.

Izumo and Kotetsu nearly had a heart attack as they called for a medical team and for someone to get the prisoner to the T&I department. Shouta wanted to go to the Hokage, but when the team had come, they had taken one look at his panting form and had told him under no uncertain terms that he was to come with them to the hospital right that instant. They then turned to Hiroto, and after seeing that he was least injured they had told him to quickly go and report to the Hokage before going to the hospital himself.

With a nod, Hiroto straightened as much as he could and called his nin-snake partner to him before he made his way to the tower alone. Even as he prepared to tell the Hokage what happened, his mind was back with his two team mates. He knew that Hotaru would make it just fine, but he still didn't know what was wrong with Shikako. He was worried about her the most. Hits to the head were always dangerous.

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OMAKE:

Neji was in ready position, his palms were facing downward as the fighting style of his clan that he had mastered at a prodigy level and speed was ready to be utilized to the fullest. Even his eyes had bulging veins leading to them as he had his byakugan out and ready. Next to him was a weary Tenten who had her kunai at the ready with wires attached to trip up the deadly foe. On the other side, Lee and his stupid smile were at the ready. If all else failed, he could speak the thing to death with proclamations of youth It was scary when Gai-sensei did it, so how would it be any different with the newly spandex clad genin?

A ways away, the jounin that had been training the team looked on with a slightly amused glint in his over exuberant eyes. This was just good karma after all of the things that he had been through when he was a genin. If things went right, they would be ready to face the cruel world of chunin in no time at all!

"Are you all in position?" He asked through the ear piece they had started to use for practice.

"Yosh! We are ready to grab our opponent and subdue them with our spring time flames of YOUTH! An-" There was a muffling after that as Tenten saved what was left of her sanity by grabbing Lee's head and covering his mouth. Neither her, nor Neji wanted to hear about whatever it was that Lee was going to start spouting out over the coms in his exaggerated whisper. The day he learned what an actual whisper was, was the day that both of them would celebrate for all eternity.

"We are in position, just waiting for orders, over." Neji replied while keeping his stance intact.

"On three… Three…. Two…. One!" The jounin said as he watched his team from a safe distance. He was ready to get involved if the dangerous opponent that they were fighting got smart and was able to catch them unawares. He would not have his youthful genin fail something like this.

All three of the genin jumped at the target, holding back no punches and not giving their adversary any way to get away from them.

And finally, with a loud shout, Lee had it pinning in his arm.

Tenten held her earpiece and said "Target identified and captured. Missing cat Tora had been found and captured. Awaiting orders!" She said as she kept her kunai aimed at the demon cat that had foiled so many. This was the second time that they had been forced to find the damn thing, and the first time it had managed to escape them twice on their way back. For that reason, and for that reason only, Neji did not deactivate his byakugan as they made their way cautiously towards their sensei.

Lee was already sporting many new scratches as the other two made very sure to stay out of the way of those almost lethal paws. Tenten even wondered if it had been a nin-cat that had escape only to be adopted by the Fire Daimyo's wife.

In any event, they has retrieved their target, and all three of them just wanted to be done with this mission. If the Hokage even thought about sending them after the demon cat again, all three of them would put up protest. Though, Neji would only do what was dignified and would let Tenten and Lee do most of the complaining.

It simply was not dignified of someone of his caliber to complain about anything. But he would be sure to help in some way. After all, he would add the logic that was usually lost with the two teammates that were with him.

They were acceptable, most of the time, but he knew that without his voice of reason, they would have gotten absolutely nowhere.

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**A/N**: So there you have it. I love dragons, so I couldn't stop myself when I put them in there. And it helped that I had planned it since I came up with the damn title to this fic. So please let me know what you all think about this and anything else that you all want to say. I'm having fun writing this and I hope you all had fin reading it. See ya next time!


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